Amid bribery scam involving scribes
production. Most of the tobacco that’s being produced is from contract arrangements,” he said.
Kuipa admitted, though, that contract farming faced numerous problems relating to the management of this model.
“Some contractors overprice the inputs that they supply to the farmers. They have turned the input distribution system into a business itself where they actually make (huge profit) margins from the inputs that they supply,” he said.
The Voedsel contracted farmers complained of lack of transparency at the company. While they are made to sign contracts, they do not get copies of the agreement to keep, those that were interviewed said.
This weakens their bargaining power and, in the event that they want to litigate, they have no documentary evidence to rely on.
And the company, they alleged, imposes banks on them.
“We provided them with our preferred bank accounts (but) they just made us open them with banks we wouldn’t have chosen, and they didn't notify us of this.
“This is a serious inconvenience because sometimes the banks are far from our places of residence,” Mbulayi added.
Susan Bhobho, a widowed tobacco farmer based in Wedza, said delays in payment were making her financially vulnerable.
“I am trying to make ends meet, but if l am not paid on time, things become difficult. Tobacco farming is my only means of survival at the moment. Contract farming allows us to finance our farming activities but, if we are not paid on time, it becomes meaningless,” she said.
Chelesani Moyo, the TIMB public affairs officer, noted that lack of collateral was one of the major reasons why tobacco farmers were opting for contract farming.
“For the 2020 to 2021 season, out of the 155,000 registered tobacco growers, 122,000 were contracted,” she said.
Kuipa admitted that contracts were usually unfair because the contractors take advantage of the farmers’ desperation and tendency to rush to sign the agreements without understanding them.
Bright Bvukumbwe, another farmer contracted by Voedsel, said the company was still to pay the farmers' insurance premiums as required.
“They are not submitting money to insurance companies to cover our insurance expenses, although it indicated on our payment sheets that the money has been deducted,” he said. “This means that farmers that were affected by hail and other weather patterns in the last season haven’t been compensated.”
Innocent Muhufe, the Voedsel chair, however insisted that his company did not owe the farmers, who have demonstrated against delayed payments in the past.
He denied that they open bank accounts for the farmers.
“All farmers have been paid except those that have queries. Some of the farmers do not submit bank accounts, or at times the bank account details won’t be complete,” he said.
Muhufe added that they procured their fertilisers from Omnia, a local supplier, and the only mark-up they put to the chemical was to cover transportation.
A random call to Omnia sales revealed that high compound fertiliser which they sell to the contracted farmers at US$60 to farmers is bought at between US$$40 to US$50 per bag if one goes straight to the supplier.
Muhufe had a conspiracy theory to explain the complaints by the farmers Voedsel were making, accusing rival companies of enlisting them to tarnish them.
This investigation took a dramatic turn involving attempted bribery when journalists claiming to have been sent by the Voedsel management approached our reporter immediately after she had an interview with the contractor’s senior staff.
Two of the reporters—who also named a senior broadcaster as part of the syndicate — offered to pay amounts as high as US$2000 to drop the story and were secretly recorded. (See accompanying story).
*This is a pen name.